Summer was wickedly hot in Provence. So, the weather upon our September return to Paris was a pleasant shock and respite—warm, sunny, blue skies, and no rain for days and days. Imagine that. Once-normal Provence weather.
Paris is an energized celebration machine in the Fall. Wow it is alive. The schools reopen, individuals and families return from their August vacations, shops are filled with incessant questions and talk about holiday travel and experiences. Geography, food, and weather being the common discussion threads. Plus, Paris is a continuous festival in September. One event after and on top of another after another.
The Streets Take Center Stage
Our Rentrée coincided with the annual La Fête de Paris, a costume parade of historic figures representing centuries of Paris history. The march goes from the Panthéon in the 5th arrondissement and some locations in the 6th arr. to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Streets were blocked off, traffic was detoured, and we encountered the parade at Place St. Sulpice. Historic protest figures marched to a drumbeat and shouted protest slogans. Elaborately dressed women and couples of the Belle Epoque strolled down the rue on their way to the 1900 Exposition Universelle. What possesses so many grown-ups to don such costumes and give up a full day of the weekend to participate, we wondered. Watching is always fun. Everyone loves a parade? This year’s event had a thematic focus honoring Josephine Baker; why not? We saw so many Josephines that day and heard some hot jazz. In fact, that evening at the Mairie (town hall) for the 6th arr., which is on Place St. Sulpice, there was a ball evoking Josephine. Photographers were there snapping photos of women in flapper dresses and men in formal ware. You can’t make this stuff up. Just another day in Paris with more than a thousand people dressed up in costumes marching in a parade with eighty thousand watching. (And the usual “manif” demonstrations of all sorts abound through the Fall.)
A Most Holy Visit
That was actually small change compared with the Celine Dion’s Paris concerts in September and the big, big, big event of the month: the visit of the Pope Leo XIV, the first papal visit to Paris or France since 2008. On the pope’s public mass on Saturday, September 26 on the Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Elysées, count about 800,000 people, spread out for more than a mile. But what a route the pontiff traveled in his popemobile, right down the center of the Champs-Élysées to his huge outdoor altar at Place de la Concorde. People could glimpse him along his path or follow him on one of the 40+ giant video screens set up days in advance. Indeed, Paris prepared for weeks, with street closures scheduled, parking restrictions, some Metro stations closed at times, and even the Seine closed to traffic during the pope’s visit to the Notre-Dame area. Everything went off splendidly with military precision and pomp. Quite the moving and memorable 24 hours of September in Paris. Amen.
Even the supermarkets get into the mood with their annual foire aux vins, lubricating many a citoyen with wines on big special promotions during September. Mostly the wines are sound supermarket affordable and ready to drink. But, France being France, each supermarket and wine shop chooses its days for the promotion. You never know. And you can never trust hours for shops, restaurants, and even movie and museum hours on the internet. Sites aren’t updated, and there are always special circumstances.
The third weekend in September is another big event in Paris and France, Journées européennes du patrimoine (European Heritage Days). The event coordinated by the Ministry of Culture opens up thousands of monuments, museums, public buildings and heritage sites of all kinds. In Paris, the Palais de l’Élysée (president’s office) and Matignon (prime minister’s office) are open with prior reservations, but among the buildings open without a reservation is the Senate (Palais du Luxembourg). I walked by on the Heritage Days, and on Saturday morning the 19th there was an endless line of people waiting to get in and a four-hour announced wait! What were these people thinking?
There are, of course, some downsides to all this frenetic celebratory and touristy rentrée activities. You take your life into your hands walking the crowded streets with people coming and going, stopping and talking, speaking as much English, Spanish and other languages as French, and at times oblivious to the bicyclists speeding in both directions and close to the overflowing sidewalks. Taxi drivers and all drivers are not happy with the cyclists and especially trottinettes, those kick-powered and now electric-assisted scooters that people zoom around on. They cause chaos on the streets and accident after accident. One needs to stay hyper-alert.
Japan Week?
Adding to the endless people magnets in September in Paris is the annual Paris Design Week, a citywide event tied to interior design, furniture, decorative arts, and craftsmanship. Our neighborhood on the Left Bank is where many furniture and decorative arts stores and galleries are clustered. The attractions are dizzying. And the list of events goes on. It seems the Louvre, the Museum D’Orsay, the Foundation Louis Vuitton, and all the small museums and gallery exhibitions aren’t enough. That the concerts and plays are also not enough, so someone(s) believed there needed to be Japan Week…in September. It runs the entire month, overlapping with Design Week and featuring Japan-linked programs and commercial events centered on design, crafts fashion, performance, and food. It makes one think about cloning oneself.
La Bon Marché Rive Gauche department store was one of the centers of Japan Week activities. I also took in a painting exhibition at a small gallery in the Marais. My raised awareness of things Japanese gave me a reason (not that I need one) to eat at a couple of outstanding kitchens with Japanese chefs. Michelin-starred Automne, a favorite, is a small minimalist spot in the 11th arr. where the menu is a delight of quality, creativity and flavor. Another wonderful lunch was at Charbon Kunitoraya in the 1st arr., where one can eat at good value ordering à la carte and/or sharing. And, of course, cold or hot soba always are a treat at Yen in the 6th arr. to fill my Japan nostalgia. Many Japanese cooks came years ago to Paris and trained with top chefs before opening their own eateries in a typical Japanese style: small, intimate, quiet with good food and service. Some turned to opening pastry shops. Tomo, a Japanese tea house in the 2nd arr., is a case in point: their cheesecake, low in sugar, is made with ricotta and steamed. The result is a yummy, airy piece enough to eliminate all the heavy, oversweet cream cheese stuff one finds almost everywhere these days. Their tropézienne makes the Southern version an afterthought! There are a few tables to enjoy your sweets there, but you can also take some home.
Ah, September in Paris. Traditions, yes. But always lovely trees and flowers still in bloom. Gorgeous low-rise buildings and architecture. Here and there, a church with a concert. Open air markets, of course, with late-summer / early fall produce … figs and girolle mushrooms. And once in a while, a pope.